a1118868 wrote:

Posted: Thursday, 16 June 2011 12:47:53 AM


I'm sure the vast majority of people who have better things to think about don't realise that at 8.00am Eastern tomorrow, the qualifiers for Brazil 2014 kick off in Couva, on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. I thought I'd start this thread for discussion about the qualifying process (fully aware that it will probably sink into the depths of the board for at least the next month or so before the preliminary draw ceremony in late July). The OP will set out in brief the qualifying process for each confederation and a summary of results so far. I'll try to edit it to stay as up to date as possible. The substantive discussion of results etc can come later.

AFC: Asia (4.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners advance to round 2)
Malaysia v Chinese Taipei
Bangladesh v Pakistan
Cambodia v Laos
Sri Lanka v Philippines
Afghanistan v Palestine
Vietnam v Macau
Nepal v Timor Leste
Mongolia v Myanmar

Round 2 (Winners advance to round 3)
Thailand v Afghanistan/Palestine
Lebanon v Bangladesh/Pakistan
China PR v Cambodia/Laos
Turkmenistan v Indonesia
Kuwait v Sri Lanka/Philippines
Oman v Mongolia/Myanmar
Saudi Arabia v Hong Kong
Iran v Maldives
Syria v Tajikistan
Qatar v Vietnam/Macau
Iraq v Yemen
Singapore v Malaysia/Chinese Taipei
Uzbekistan v Kyrgyzstan
UAE v India
Jordan v Nepal/Timor Leste

Round 3 (Top 2 of each group advance to round 4)
- 5 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Australia
Bahrain
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic

Round 4 (Top 2 of each group qualify for World Cup, 3rd advances to round 5)
- 2 groups of 5 teams

Round 5 (Winner to progress to intercontinental playoff)
- The 3rd placed teams from Round 4 play over 2 legs.



CAF: Africa (5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners to advance to round 2)
- 12 matches played over 2 legs.
- 24 lowest ranked nations (July 2011 world rankings) to enter at this stage.

Round 2 (Group winners to advance to round 3)
- 10 groups of 4 teams.
- 28 highest ranked nations (July 2011 world rankings) to enter at this stage.

Round 3 (Winners qualify for World Cup)
- 5 matches played over 2 legs.



UEFA: Europe (13 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Group winners qualify for World Cup, 8 best runners-up advance to round 2)
- 8 groups of 6 teams and 1 group of 5 teams.

Round 2 (Winners qualify for World Cup)
- 4 matches played over 2 legs.



OFC: Oceania (0.5 qualification slots)

Round 1, Pacific Games (Top 3 finishers advance to round 2)
- Tournament played in New Caledonia, to comprise 3 groups of 4 teams followed by knockout stages.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
American Samoa
Cook Islands
Fiji
New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tahiti
Tonga
Vanuatu
- Kiribati and Tuvalu to take part in tournament but not eligible to progress to round 2.

Round 2 (Group winner to advance to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 4 teams.
- New Zealand to enter at this stage.



CONCACAF: North America (3.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners advance to round 2)
Montserrat v Belize (first leg: Montserrat 2-5 Belize)
Anguilla v Dominican Republic
US Virgin Islands v British Virgin Islands
Aruba v St Lucia
Bahamas v Turks and Caicos Islands

Round 2 (Group winners to advance to round 3)
- 6 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Bermuda
Canada
Cayman Islands
Curacao
Dominica
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico
St Kitts and Nevis
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago

Round 3 (Top 2 of each group advance to round 4)
- 3 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Costa Rica
Cuba
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
USA

Round 4 (Top 3 qualify for World Cup, 4th advances to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 6 teams.



CONMEBOL: South America (4.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Top 4 qualify for World Cup, 5th advances to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 9 teams.
- Brazil qualify automatically as host and will not take part.

a1118868 wrote:
So imo, the major talking points from our perspective are the following:

Australia's path

Much the same as last time for us, need to negotiate a 4 team group made up from the last 20 in qualifying, and finish top 2, followed by a 5 team group from the last 10 survivors in Asia. The only point of slight difference is how the teams are seeded for our first group stage - this time around it will be done by FIFA ranking in July 2011. When the July rankings are released, this will make more sense but as it stands it would leave China in pot 1 with us, which means we would definitely avoid them in our first group.

However, it would also leave very dangerous floaters like Saudi Arabia and North Korea floating in the lower pots, giving a definite opportunity for an ugly group of death (a bit like we had last time, in fact).

New African system

The notoriously unpredictable African qualifying process has an added degree of spice this time around, as their 5 qualifiers will all be determined by a 2 legged playoff at the final stage. This means a total of 11 qualifiers (4 in Europe and 2 in intercontinental playoffs) will be decided over 2 legs. Which I personally love, as long as it's not my team giving me a heart attack.

Playoff seeding

FIFA have, once again, in their infinite wisdom remained completely silent on whether the European playoffs will be seeded. After what happened last time, this is disgusting and unfair. I was happy to give them the benefit of the doubt last time around, but the issue has now been given global attention and FIFA's silence on this issue smacks of arrogance and corruption. All teams deserve to know the rules they are playing by from day one.

6 South American teams?
Amazingly, 60% of the confederation could end up in the World Cup. Personally, I don't mind this. There is plenty of strength in depth in the region and the more local flavour given to the World Cup the better.

Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts/reactions.

Preliminary draw takes place in the early hours of July 31 Australian time, after which the Road to Brazil will really take shape and this thread will probably be a lot more relevant.